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Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard
this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer
statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of
"there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner,
master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us
-- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you
may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be
something we might never have considered before, or something that
didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized
it for the practical test.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you
through the Aero-News Network.

Aero-Tips 11.03.06

Several years ago I was living in western Colorado and had the
chance to stop overnight in Colorado Springs. I looked up a good
Air Force friend who lived there; I'd not seen Scott in a decade,
and had never met his wife Bridgett or their son Jake. In good
transient-pilot fashion I got myself invited over for an impromptu
barbeque.

Over the dinner table I
explained how I began instructing after hanging up the Blue Suit,
and was (at the time) a production test and checkout pilot for a
small engine modification firm. Almost in passing Bridgett
commented she'd always wanted to learn to fly a helicopter. There
wasn't any helicopter instruction available in the area, and I told
her the costs would be far less to learn to fly a fixed-wing
airplane and then make the transition to rotary wing if that's
still what she wanted to do. I opened their phone book and found an
ad for an FBO that offered a Discovery Flight (then, usually $25
for a half-hour orientation hop), and suggested she call them the
next morning. The conversation turned to other things.

Very soon afterward I moved away, and was not in touch with my
friends for a couple of years. Next time I spoke to them I was in
for a big surprise. Bridgett had taken that discovery flight, and
gone back for much more. She earned her Commercial pilot
certificate and was aiming for a professional flying career. She
had become very active in her local chapter of the 99s, the women pilots association
that counted Amelia Earhart as one of its founders. Bridgett
later went to a professional flying program in Arizona to complete
advanced ratings, has flown professionally as a local traffic
reporter, and won a scholarship from the 99s to complete her flight
instructor certificate. Now she's one of the most enthusiastic
pilots I know, always encouraging others to take their own
Discovery Flight.

Scott won't admit it, but he probably curses me for what his
wife started after my suggestion to call the airport. But he and
Jake like being chauffeured on vacation flights by his
professional-pilot wife!

Aero-tip of the day: If you detect anyone's
slightest interest in flying, point them toward the airport. You
never know how many people you'll positively affect as a
result.